August 19, 2010

With battle lines being drawn and tempers flaring around the world and at ground zero over a proposed mosque,

it’s time to ask everyone who considers themselves to be a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth,

are you ready to become a Christian Suicide Bomber?

Now as every real student of The Holy Bible knows

“We are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” EPH 6:12 NLT,

so obviously I’m NOT talking about anything to do with real explosives.

But what I’m talking about is what The Apostle Paul’s referring to in Romans 12,

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” ROM 12: 1-2 NLT

and in Galatians 2:20 20

“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Gal 2:20 NLT

And in Romans 6

“Do not let sin control the way you live;[a] do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.” ROM 6:12-14 NLT

Who knows what kind of damage we’re causing in the spirit realm when we throw off our sinful nature and instead obey The Holy Spirit.

Every time we refuse to spread gossip about our neighbor down the street, we become a Christian Suicide Bomber.

Every time we break off a conversation with a coworker of the opposite sex who’s getting a little too flirty, we become a Christian Suicide Bomber.

Every time we give money back to a clerk who just handed us too much change, we become a Christian Suicide Bomber.

Every time we resist the urge to scream at our spouse for forgetting to do something for the gazillionth time and instead not even bring it up, we become a Christian Suicide Bomber.

Every time we wave at a driver who just cut us off instead of showing them the bad half of a peace sign, we become a Christian Suicide Bomber.

The thing about natural Suicide Bombers, as bad as they are, they can only inflict their damage once,

August 19, 2010

Since I’m not a Sean Hannity wanna be, I have no problem posting a clarification or even a retraction of sorts, regarding my last post.

I do not believe that every single person involved in the modern peace movement is a God hating atheist or a USA hating communist. But I do get the distinct impression that the organizers behind it all, are.

On the other hand if my fellow Evangelicals have any hope of reaching outsiders who are liberals, or peace marchers, or even anarchists, (And Jesus did say go into ALL the world) then we’d better make sure whenever possible our churches stay right out of politics altogether.

We need to stay as far as we can from pinheads like this group in Florida who are having a “Burn the Koran” day. Our Lord said “Love your enemies,” not pick a fight with them.

FAIL!

And we Evangelicals need to disassociate ourselves from people like those jack wagons who showed up at U Albany last year (or was it the year before?) with signs that had stuff like “God Hates Gays” on them. That got me so upset I almost showed up on campus dressed in drag carrying a super soaker!

June 30, 2010

A family in Hudson Falls NY USA is bearing a cross no one should ever be forced to carry.

Six children perished in a deadly house fire.

Yet one of the things that still makes the USA a great nation is how charity can spontaneously
erupt at a moments notice. A fund has been established and a fund raiser has been set up
to aide the survivors of this tragedy.

It seems the hardest price God has to pay in granting humanity free will is that He had to also allow the consequences to occur resulting from our choices.

As a result of Adam and Eve’s wrong choice they lost paradise and became vulnerable to all the forces of nature. Their offspring became so wicked that generations later God destroyed the earth in a flood. Everyone perished except for Noah’s family.

Centuries later after God scattered humanity after The Tower of Babel He chose one man Abraham to found His chosen people Israel out from whom would come the Messiah, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Although He was The Son of God, He rejected royalty and obeyed His Father God to suffer the worst this awful world could dish out and become the sin offering for the world while dieing on a Roman cross.

But after Good Friday came Easter morning and the witness of the empty tomb. By the power of The Holy Spirit and the witness of the apostles the gospel rapidly spread throughout The Roman World and The Church was established.

When God’s people obey The Holy Spirit the The Real Church becomes “The Salt of the Earth” and “The Light of the World.”

As a result if nations and leaders listen to the true church (Which is Not just one human organization BTW) people can be blessed. When nations and leaders persecute the church evil reigns. Yet for some reason The church always seems to grow the fastest when it has the most against it. How ironic.

So where was God at a time like this? He’s right with family and the community grieving along with them. We the church, as God’s people are now His hands that reach out, His arms that embrace, and His feet to move and accomplish His Will.

We are all called to carry each others burdens like The bible says we should. We’re to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.

One day Our Father God will say

“Enough!”

On that day The Son will come again in order to establish His Kingdom on the earth. In that day death, Hell, and the evil one will get what’s coming to them.

April 17, 2010

Here’s the way Time Warner Cable’s “Your News Now” covered today’s Tea Party in downtown Albany. (Click on picture)

For the most part their coverage was positive except when presenting an opposing view they always go for the most inflammatory. That would be former President’s Clinton remark comparing Tea Party protesters to the terrorists who caused the Oklahoma City bombings.

March 28, 2010

And churches aren’t supposed to be meeting places for the holier than most crowd either.

It just seems that way sometimes.

Jesus said it’s the sick that need a doctor, not those who think they are well,or at least are trying to act like they’re well.

That being said in reality a church should really be a spiritual hospital with Dr. Jesus as the Great Physician. Allot of churches are finally getting that. Thank God mine is one them.

We recognize that there are allot of hurting people out there who if they have to pretend everything’s perfect in their life they’re going to explode.

At Grace Fellowship in the Albany NY area we just started a whole bunch of workshops on a whole slew of issues. Everything from dealing with various addictions, to caring for elderly parents, to Understanding Depression.

The latter was the one that caught my eye.

Most of the time I talk about spiritual issues over at “Lucky Loser” but this needed to be said here.

If your house of worship isn’t a place where there’s a safe place to let your guard down you need to find a place where you can.

Imagine a hospital in the natural where you had to act like you were well most of the time.